


Oneirataxia

by YanDanTDM



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Dan has a mental breakdown about villagers asmr, Delusion, Existential Crisis, Gen, Hermit!Dan AU, Hermit!Stampy AU, Insanity, Over-Confusion, Over-Sympathy, Panic, Snapping, Somewhat trails into Hurt/Comfort, Stampy Grian and Xisuma try to help, Trying to help, blaming self, breakdown - Freeform, thousand yard stare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25153651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YanDanTDM/pseuds/YanDanTDM
Summary: oneirataxia (n) the inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DanTDM, while stuck in the world of Hermitcraft, is invited to Grian’s trading hall to do some trading. He panics and leaves. Stampy Cat is there to help him.Things don’t end well.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Oneirataxia

oneirataxia (n) the inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy

~~~

I lean against the trading hut that Grian has made. He’s probably off doing work in the nether, hoping I actually do something.

The message he sent on the communicators did not help.

_ <Grian> Hey, Dan! I’m heading out for a bit and I know you’re a bit behind, so you can use my trading hall! It’s a bit weird and impromptu but I think you might prefer to be alone. _

_ <DanTDM> Thanks, Grian. _

He didn’t mean anything wrong. He just wanted to help me. But as I step into the hole at the bottom of this massive room, I feel sick and dizzy. All the villagers turn to look at me.

“Hey, guys.”

Some respond with a hello, others stay silent. One in particular, a librarian, asks if I’m alright.

“I’m good, yeah.” There’s a few murmurs of concern around.

I’m so tempted to let them all escape and walk around and be free but I know Grian would kill me if I did. I can only imagine what it must be like, trapped in a room only my size, unable to climb or break out, only being interacted with to do business. 

I grab some wheat out of my inventory and go up to a farmer’s desk. They smile at me and nod. “It’s okay to trade.”

“Ah…” I rub my eyes.

 _Get over yourself,_ comes that nagging voice in my head. I think he even has a name, but I don’t pay attention to him. _They’re just villagers. It won’t hurt to trade with them once._

But they must have been trading for ages, that’s their livelihood now. They’re forced to do that...no, they chose to. Get over yourself!

I open up the trading menu and look at the prices.

( _Reduced almost to the point of not being alive, having a certain menu, programs they must follow and if someone doesn’t like it don’t they’re scorned.)_

I shakily count the amount of wheat needed for 2 emeralds and shove it into the villager’s hands. They calmly return the emeralds. 

_I’m such a mess._

I go over to another villager who sells books and am about to hand over the emeralds when they stop me.

“Hey, uh, it’s 3 emeralds, not two.”

Suddenly a flashback hits me.

~~~

I was humming an old song I wrote to myself and was walking somewhere in a plains biome, wandering around, looking for a place to build a creeper farm when a voice from behind me shakes me out of the search.

“Oh ew, a wandering trader! I wonder what he has...” 

Well first of all, I disliked the fact they said ‘ew’. I looked over and see Mumbo Jumbo, with his moustache, but in a stupid suit. I wasn’t sure why he was there, though.

He looked through the menu and yelled out “I almost had enough, too! Ugh.”

The trader responded with a seemingly tired ‘Well that’s just the prices, sorry about it.’ and started to walk away, llamas bleating behind. 

Then I saw the sword.

I was in too much shock to do anything at first. Mumbo attacked the poor trader without noticing me. The squeak rang through my ears as Mumbo muttered “Sorry, dude!”

I sprung into action. Running towards the two, I shouted “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Oh, Hey Dan!” Mumbo said, taken aback by my intervention. “I was uh...you know...killing the wandering trader?”

“But why!? Why would you kill him just because you didn’t like his trades?!”

“Dan, traders are annoying!” He laughed and the anger channelled itself towards my hand, causing me to pull my own sword out.

“Woah woah woah, okay okay! I’ll leave him alone!” Mumbo fumbles out, switching to his rockets.

“Okay.” I nod and put my sword away too. 

He flew away instantly after. And then the regret hit, and I just felt stupid and bad and dumb.

( _He probably hates you now. Why’d you attack him?_ )

The trader thanked me for saving him and ran off after, giving me at least something to be proud of. 

I trudged away, feeling heavily demotivated and with the ringing of a message from MumboJumbo on my communicator.

~~~

I’m snapped out of my trance by the villager in front of me asking if I’m okay, and that I zoned out. I nod.

“Sorry, I had a moment.”

“Glad you’re ok. Now, are you going to trade or what?”

And so I do, getting the emerald that I missed and giving it over and getting some enchanting books. 

Rain suddenly starts to pour outside and I can hear it on the roof. The clouds turn to grey and I hear some thunder start. It sends a tremor through my body and I end up dropping the books I’m holding.

I drop down and pick them up. Someone says my name and then asks to talk.

So I make small talk with the villagers, talking about normal things like the weather and the mobs. But the whole time something crawls up my spine. A nagging feeling, won’t let go. Telling me to stop, to see the light.

I can’t. 

Thoughts intrude into my head, that I’m just delusional, that I’m finding false kindness, I mean, why else does everyone hate them, but I’m completely unable to make a trade without feeling bad? Why does everyone find it weird that I’m able to hold full conversations with them when they do it with others, but they ignore villager’s hellos? And they insult them right in front of them?

Why am I the crazy one?

I slowly go quiet and close myself off from the villagers, despite their cries of concern. I just don’t understand. I don’t understand at all. 

Oh well. It’s not like it’s going to change.

I shake myself off and pull out my rockets, before waving to the villagers. Some don’t notice, others say goodbye, to whom I respond, before I launch off.

Yeah, I know flying around in a storm isn’t the safest, but I had to do something, _anything_ to get out of that trading hall. The thoughts that entered my head when they weren’t welcome were just too much to handle, too much to take, not in front of the villagers. And so I had to leave.

I’ve always had degrading thoughts, I think we all have. The question is, why did they get so bad in that hall? Why couldn’t I just...be calm? 

It’s just trading, DanTDM, get over yourself. You present yourself as calm and knowledgeable, so why can’t you actually be that way?

I’m so lost in my thoughts (as I always am) that I stray too far away from where I was supposed to be flying to (my base) and end up face planting right into a tree. Lighting strikes near me just after and I fall to the ground.

What’s my luck today, huh? First I get called to do something I really don’t want, and with that I feel like I have to because they asked so nicely, and then I do something dumb and start flying in a storm and I slam into a tree and lose half my health. 

What fun.

I lay on the ground for a bit to catch my breath. Small needles of pain fall onto my face and hands. I have a feeling I might have destroyed my elytra a bit when I fell.

I’m laying there for a bit until I hear a voice.

“Dan, what are you doing outside? It’s so wet!”

Stampy Cat. Apparently he’s been here longer than I have, since, what did they call it, season 6? I don’t really know. 

“Dan?” I shake myself out of my thoughts and respond to Stampy calling out to me.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Stamps!”

“But...that wasn’t what I asked.”

“Oh, whoops. I’m a little out of it right now, you see…” I laugh a little.

“Aw, Dan! Come inside, you look cold.”

I shove myself onto my hands and knees and use a tree to get up, and walk over to Stampy. He opens the door to his base and I go inside. I appear to be in his storage room, or well, house. I think he was making a small village as his main base, similar to Scar’s but with a different theme. I forgot what it was, I don’t normally come to the jungle. My base is near the huge goat statue. 

I take off my armour and elytra and lean against the wall. 

“You okay? What happened? Why were you out in the middle of the storm?”

So many questions, and each with an answer I can barely explain without the fear of being laughed at. It’s happened so many times before...but then again, Stampy is one of the kindest here, and we’ve known each other for a while….he won’t laugh, right? We’ve done the stupidest stuff together, he won’t laugh at me about...talking to villagers? He knows who Trayaurus is, for goodness sake!

“Dan? Dan! You keep zoning out!” 

“Sorry sorry...what were the questions again?”

“Okay, I’ll go through it slowly. Firstly, are you okay?”

I sigh. At this point I barely know.

“Somewhat.”

“Okay…alright, next one. What happened?”

A lot happened and I don’t have enough words for me to tell you. 

“Well...I wasn’t paying attention, zoned out and then I flew into a tree as it got struck by lightning.”

“Ouch...do you need any medical help?”

“No no, I’m good.”

“You sure? I have some potions?”

“No really, I-”

“You sure?” He says, stressing the ‘ur’. 

Suddenly I get snappy and respond with “I’m fine, Stampy!”. It takes us both aback a little and I immediately follow up with “Sorry, sorry, carry on?”

He’s a little put off but he continues. “Uhm, Okay, Why were you flying in the middle of a thunderstorm! That’s really dangerous!”

The question I’ve been dreading. The question I don’t want to answer, the one that makes me feel inferior. 

( _Stop it._

 _Get over yourself._ )

“Don’t laugh at me for this, okay?”

( _Stop hesitating._ )

“I won’t! Everyone has their reasons for doing things!”

I take a deep breath.

( _Just. Tell. Him._ )

“I uh...I had to get out of Grian’s trading room. I could barely stand it in there, it was making me sick and I hated it and I just wanted to leave but then I-”

“Okay, okay! Slow down. You wanted to get out of Grian’s trading room, right?” 

“Yeah.”

“How come?”

Please stop pushing. Please. I don’t even know why myself.

( _Yes you do, stop lying to yourself.)_

“I- I couldn’t take it, seeing all those villagers stuck behind tiny barrels in areas that can barely fit them, only being able to trade and that’s it. I tried to make small talk but everything overwhelmed me.” I’m feeling a bit breathless. 

“Talk...with the villagers?”

Oh no, now he’s gonna start. I interrupt him before he can get a word out.

“Don’t continue. I just know that you’re gonna say that villagers can’t talk and that I’m finding false hope. That I’m just crazy. Everyone says that.”

Stampy looks at me sadly, with a look of concern in his eyes. He looks like he feels bad for me.

I shouldn’t have said anything. I should have just lied and waited until the storm’s over and left. Of course it will go the same way that it always does. He thinks I’m insane. Like everyone else.

“It’s not fair.” I continue my rant, unable to stop. “It’s not fair! Why does everyone hate them? They’re just like you and me, they have the same mannerisms, speak the same language-“

“Oh.” Stampy says that out loud and covers his mouth. 

“Oh? What do you mean, oh?” I ask. 

“Dan I- I doubt you’ll believe me but-“

“But what?”

“Has..has anyone had this conversation with you before?” He questions, out of nowhere.

“Yes. They all tell me I’m not thinking straight or laugh it off.” 

“I- no one’s told you? Not even the villagers?”

“What? What do you mean?” I’m genuinely confused. 

“Dan they dont- we don’t understand them. We’ve thought all this time you were just being odd because you didn’t even know what they were saying but you do...we can’t understand what they’re saying. To us it’s just a humming noise.”

I blink. Once. Twice. The rain outside seems to get quieter, as if I’m the main character in a book or something.

What does he mean, they can’t understand them? No, no. That’s stupid.

“You can’t be serious. You’re lying.” I stand up to leave. 

“No, I’m not! I pinky promise.” Stampy isn’t a liar though. He always tells the truth, he always wants people to know how things are. 

I remain silent, but I can tell by Stampy’s face that I look angry. 

“Dan, seriously. They sound like this.” He makes a weird grunting or growling noise that I can only describe as a hoarse hum. 

“No they don’t.” I shouldn’t believe it. They’re just lying to try and convince me I’m crazy. But the sound Stampy made was so specific…

“Look, let me prove it!” He goes onto his communicator. I put my hand up to stop him but it’s too late.

_ <stampylongnose> What noise do villagers make? _

_ <Grian> Hmmmnnmgr _

_ <StressMonster> That hmmm noise _

_ <cubfan135> They do like a grunting thing which is reminiscent of a hum _

“So...yeah.”

And everything just snaps into place.

It’s true. I am delusional. 

Everything is a lie. A friendship built up over the years shattered. My friends must think I’m crazy. Jemma, Justin, James...I’m not normal. All the conversations I’ve been having with those villagers are fake. Everything, everything I’ve believed in in so long, a lie.

So what about Trayaurus? How’d I get his interests right? How come I understand him?! And Denton! Fin understood Denton! Can I just understand them? Is that why I sometimes get weird looks? Has everyone just been going along with me? Thinking I’m crazy? Why didn’t Trayaurus tell me that they didn’t understand him? Has he told me? Am I so far down that I’ve forgotten if he told me that others can’t hear him? Is that why I do all the talking and Tray can’t? Why can I hear him? Why did no one tell me before?! Am I hearing things or am I able to understand them? Does everyone think I’m insane? How many times have I made a fool of myself?! IS THIS SOME SORT OF CRUEL JOKE!? DOES EVERYONE HATE ME!? WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME I’M JUST STUCK IN A DELUSION THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND THEM IS IT A **DELUSION IS IT REAL I DON’T KNOW ANYMORE HOW MUCH ELSE THAT I KNOW IS A LIE IS ANYTHING REAL IS TRAYAURUS REAL IS ANYONE REAL AM I REAL-**

I collapse onto my knees as everything goes numb and questions fill my mind, increasing in drasticity, impossibility and intensity as they go.

**it has to be fake nothing is real nothing nothing nothing at all everything I know is a lie everything I’ve worked on is probably a lie my best friend is hated no one can understand they won’t ever understand it hurts it hurts**

Are they right? Maybe I’m overreacting. I have to be. But it does hurt, hurt that the one person I’ve worked with all my life maybe-no, Dan that makes no sense. 

But why would they lie to me. Why lie to me and why hurt me? Why lead on me so far with no knowledge?

They’re consuming my head, unable to leave. My thoughts become jumbled and it feels like a darkness consuming me. 

**nothing left**

**maybe everything is a lie**

**and no one has had the heart to tell you**

**that everything is fake**

**because no one cares**

I say something I can barely hear. One voice stands out but just barely.

“Dan? Dan are you okay? Dan, please respond to me! DAN?!”

Then the words consume me, and they’re all I can hear. 

~~~

Stampy’s first reaction to Dan going unresponsive was to call his name. The young man with goggles was now curled up on the floor, shaking uncontrollably. The cat wasn’t sure how to respond, so he went down onto the floor and tried shaking him. 

“Dan, Dan look at me!”

No response. Stampy rolled him over to see that his eyes were completely wide and almost greyed over. 

Stampy had never seen those eyes before. But they were so dull, and so terrifying that when Stampy looked into Dan’s thousand yard stare he only had one thought.

This was bad.

“Oh no OH NO PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC-”

What did he do? Why did Dan react so adversely to the truth? Has he been lied to? Stampy felt terrible. Maybe this was why no one had told Dan, because they knew he would react adversely. Was it his fault? It had to be.

But he wasn’t the problem right now. The one who needed help was Dan.

Thing was, Stampy didn’t know what was wrong.

He went onto his communicator to call for help and noticed that Dan had talked recently to Grian. The conversation they had about Dan using the trading hall...oh right! Dan was using Grian’s trading hall and he had to leave. That’s how he ended up in the rain. 

Oh well, Grian wouldn’t be much use right now. Who was Dan close to, again? No, the ones Dan was close to wouldn’t matter. Someone who could deal with this...Xisuma! He knows these kinds of things!

Stampy quickly typed a message into his communicator.

_ <stampylongnose> X, I need you in my storage room _

_ <Xisuma> What happened? Is it urgent? _

_ <stampylongnose> Very _

_ <Xisuma> Okay, I’m coming. _

Stampy put his communicator away and went up to the trembling mess on his floor. From what it looked like, Dan was crying and mumbling something unintelligible. Stampy went up to him and tried to reassure him, tried to calm him down.

“Dan, it’ll be okay, it’ll be okay, I’m here don’t worry-” 

Stampy tried sounding calm and patient, hoping to get through to the other person in the room. Nothing worked. 

Another ping from the communicator came and Stampy quickly checked.

_ <Grian> Yo dude that sounds bad. I’m nearby, I’ll come too. _

_ <stampylongnose> ok _

Stampy didn’t really care. Grian probably should have known what he had done, right? No, it wasn’t Grian’s fault, Grian didn’t think this would happen. It was his, because he told Dan the truth.

As Grian said, he was nearby. He soared through the sky, rain flying past him. He was a good flyer, and he was able to get to Stampy’s place with ease. He found the storage room easily - Stampy had labelled it - and entered inside.

He was quite shocked to see Dan on the floor, and instantly knew why. It was the villagers, wasn’t it? Oh no, he must have done something. He must have done something stupid after offering and Dan freaked out and did it but then panicked. Of course, of course he messed up.

Stampy stood up after seeing him and said “I-I’m going to explain when Xisuma gets here. I don’t know what to do.”

Grian nodded and looked over to Dan. And just like Stampy, he got that same feeling. Something bad had happened.

Grian stood in silence, worrying as Stampy tried to calm down the goggle wearing brunette. Of course it was his fault, whose else would it be? He knew Dan was sympathetic towards villagers, he knew Dan found it harder to trade with them, did Dan feel forced to do it? Probably! Why’d he even ask? To hell with trying to be helpful, because it always goes badly in the end.

Xisuma came in next. And yet again, after looking at Dan, he also got the idea that something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

“What happened, Stampy?”

“Okay, so...he panicked while in Grian’s trading hall, flew out in the middle of the thunderstorm and flew into a tree. I brought him inside and well...I found out he can understand villagers. Like, he knows what they’re saying and that’s why he is so protective of them. And not only that, he thought we all could too. And I explained that we couldn’t...and he reacted...badly.”

“And he ended up like that?” Xisuma asked. He was quite shocked - is that not a bit of an overreaction? 

“Yeah, that’s right! He’s crying a lot, and he keeps shaking, I can’t get him to stop…he won’t even respond to me!” 

“So that’s why you asked everyone that?” Grian laughed a little. 

“Why are you laughing!?” 

“I don’t know! I do this when I’m nervous or scared.” 

“That’s-”

“That’s not the point.” Xisuma interrupted Stampy so he wouldn’t say anything rash. “The point is, we need to figure out what’s wrong with Dan.” 

Xisuma went up to the mess on the floor and propped him up. Getting a closer look helped. While Dan looked almost dead, heavily pale, eyes widened like endless voids...well, it hit Xisuma like a truck of bricks.

“I think I’ve got it.”

“You do?” The two other conscious people said in unison. “Tell us!” Stampy continued.

“What’s happening is- I think, anyways- Dan was overloaded and that’s why he snapped, and I think right now he’s trying to sort out his thoughts.” The man with the visor sighed. “Basically, you two managed to break him.”

Both of them instantly had the same thought. So it was their fault, huh. Why wouldn’t it be? Of course it was. 

“Well, what do we do? We can’t just leave him here!” The cat cried.

“Surely leaving him alone might be better though?” The blondie responded. “That way he won’t be confused if he snaps out of it-”

“When. When he snaps out of it.” Xisuma corrected. “Because no matter how long it may take, he will snap out of it. But I agree with Stampy. It might be easier for him to wake up in his own base, because if I'm right, it’ll feel like he’ll be waking up in the morning.”

“...Oh.” Grian nodded. 

“Do...do you guys know where his base is?” Stampy asked.

“I do! It’s by BDubs and Doc’s.” Grian responded. 

“I’ll go and take him. You guys can stay here.” Xisuma offered.

“No!” the two chorused. 

(Boy, this narration is getting tedious, isn’t it?)

“We’ll come with you.” 

“Alright then…”

Xisuma carefully picked up the boy on the floor, although technically he knew he could be a little rough as Dan wouldn’t snap out of it any time soon. It was a little wobbly, but he could just carry him. 

The trio set off in flight towards Dan’s base. The rain was still heavy, and everyone knew how careful they had to be. As they got out of the jungle and into the plains, things became easier but not by much. 

Eventually, they got to Dan’s place. Dan was recreating the labs he has built, albeit on a much smaller scale. His smaller lab was his main base, castle his storage system, and his larger lab filled with his farms and other shenanigans.

Xisuma noted that Dan didn’t have a trading hall. 

Xisuma flew through the open roof into the iron and concrete laboratory. Apparently Dan had spent a lot of diamonds for the concrete. The rain hitting the ground was loud and jarring.

It didn’t take long for Xisuma to find Dan’s bedroom (a reprieve from how loud it was outside) and lay him on top of his bed. Dan was still shaking, still trembling, still stuck in an endless loop of self-deprecation and confusion.

“We should write him a note, so when he wakes up he knows what happened.” Stampy offered.

“Well I doubt he’ll miss much, but sure.” Xisuma replied. 

Stampy and Grian flew out while Xisuma watched to get a book and quill, and they left him a small note. It took some time to find the right words, but they found them. 

~~~

_Hey, Dan._

_We’re all really sorry about what happened. We should have checked with you to see if you were alright, and you really didn’t have to talk or trade if you didn’t want to, we're sorry if it felt that way._

_We’re here for you._

_Xisuma said that when you wake up you should say something publicly, just a hello or a message to let us know you’re awake so we can check on you. We moved you back into your base, by the way._

_-Grian, Stampy and Xisuma_

~~~

The three went quiet after they signed the book and put it into Dan’s hand. False hope arises in Stampy’s heart after Dan twitched a little when it made contact, but Dan didn’t respond any more than that. 

It has to be his fault, hasn’t it? It couldn’t be Grian’s, everyone knows Dan dislikes trading halls and he was just trying to help. No, Stampy told him on a whim and now he’s like this. Now he’s trapped in a bubble of his own mind.

“We shouldn’t dwell on it, Dan will be fine. If he isn’t within 24 hours, I’ll check on him.” Xisuma reassured.

But every time Stampy looked into Dan’s eyes, that same feeling crawled up his back and he knew that he wasn’t so sure.

“I’m going to go...I don’t think I can stand here any longer.” Grian said, before waving. “See you guys around.” And he flew out of the lab.

“I’m going to follow. Stampy, you should too.” Xisuma beckoned to the cat and launched off too. 

But Stampy couldn’t leave. He had secretly brought an extra book and quill, just so he could write something personal.

~~~

_P.S: I’m sorry, because it’s probably my fault. And I know you’re probably going to hate me from now on, I just want to let you know that I welcome that with open arms. It’s my fault, anyways. I’m sorry, DanTDM._

_-Stampy_

~~~

Stampy left that on the desk beside Dan’s bed, so he would see it. He was on the verge of tears, but no, he had to stay strong.

I mean, wouldn’t you be on the verge of tears because you knew you sent someone, someone you cared for deeply and have known for many years, over the edge? 

The cat sighed and walked away. He had to continue with his day, even if it was a rainy one. He had other things to do.

Hopefully Dan would return to reality soon.

Stampy looked over his shoulder one last time.

He was frozen in place when he swore he saw Dan’s eyes flashing, from red, to grey, to black, to blue, to grey once more.

But it has to be nothing, right? He’s just seeing things. 

So he braved himself and soared into the heavy rain outside, the thunder and rain combined muffling Dan’s quiet cries to save him.

~~~

As Stampy walks away I scream out but no one can hear.

No one is here.

No one will save me from this hell I’m trapped in.

Someone help.

Someone help, please.

I try my best to sort them into areas and dismiss them but they keep coming. They’re coming from every angle and they won’t stop someone please come and help me-

Get over yourself, Dan. How weak are you? They’re just villagers.

But they aren’t just villagers, they’re people like us!

No they’re not.

Yes they are.

The darkness around me is endless and it hurts. I’m being hunted for sport, by my own mind.

I need someone to talk to but no one will stay, they all think I’m fine.

No, I am fine.

No I’m not.

Yes I am.

No I’m not.

I’m being stupid.

No I’m not. 

My mind feels like it will fracture if this continues.

Why would it fracture over such a small thing?

Because it hurts. 

No it doesn’t.

Yes it does. 

No.

Yes.

…

The arguing won’t stop and I feel like I’m being tugged at by all angles. The black is consuming me whole, pushing me further off the cliff I terraformed myself. 

No it’s not.

Yes it is.

The questions flash around me and they blind me. 

Why did they lie to me?

Did they lie to me?

Why did they leave?

Did they mean it?

How long has this lasted?

Am I overreacting?

Yes I am.

No I’m not.

Yes I am.

No I’m not.

I can hear a faint crack in the distance.

**Someone somewhere somehow PLEASE COME AND SA-**

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is officially the longest one-shot I have ever written (4537 words - 4539 according to AO3)! I’m actually really proud of this. Thanks to Vortex for beta-reading! First time trying that out : )  
> This was based of the Hermit!Stampy / Hermit!Dan AU, where Dan and Stampy end up in Hermitcraft. It’s very wholesome but also VERY ANGSTY.  
> I randomly came up with this idea and now this fanfic exists. The concept was that Dan is protective over villagers because Trayaurus, and that extended into Dan being able to understand them and no one else can and him getting confused. Theeen this happened.  
> I tried to be more in brand with the characters, making sure I could imagine each person saying all their dialogue out loud to each other. I also did some research on Dan / Stampy and it turns out they’re very chaotic together.  
> Basically, this is the hardest I’ve ever worked on a fanfic.  
> So yeah! I hope you enjoy this little fan fiction! And check out the AU, I really like it and it’s really good!  
> EDIT: I had the impulsive urge to add another paragraph so I did and it’s now 4810 words whoops   
> Anyways I’m so sorry Dan I completely decimated you  
> -YanDan


End file.
